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Pie in the Sky

In honour of Pi Day, a very important celebration, which takes place on March 14th (or 3/14) I thought I’d discuss some of my favourite pie-loving characters.

Just thinking about it is making me want a slice of cherry pie a bit too much though. Dammit.

Dean Winchester, Supernatural

Dean Winchester loves food in general, but he has an especially soft spot for a good slice of pie. His food fetish took on a slightly more bittersweet taste when you realise that a large part of it is his longing for the innocent childhood- full of good cooking and sandwiches with the crusts cut off- that he lost when his mother was killed by a demon when he was four years old.

That certainly doesn’t make all his yelling about wanting pie any less endearing though:

Ned, Pushing Daisies

Ned put his ability to bring the dead back to life to good use by reviving mouldy fruit and turning it into yummy baked goods in his restaurant, The Pie Hole. Although food inspectors might have frowned on this kind of behaviour, the desserts always looked tasty and were certainly appreciated by his friends and customers.

Blair Waldorf, Gossip Girl

As a recovering bulimic and something of a control freak, Blair has some issues with food. This was wildly exacerbated in the first season Thanksgiving episode, aptly titled ‘Blair Waldorf Must Pie!’, when her family drama came to a head (her mother uninvited her gay dad and lied to Blair about it, thus making her feel rejected), but before all the drama erupted Blair just wanted to make the perfect pumpkin pie for her papa.

Blair’s family situation is far more stable now, and she’s moved on to university- where she wasn’t averse to attempting to bribe people with pie.

Pub Landlord, Time Gentlemen Please

The Pub Landlord is Al Murray’s stand-up persona, a stereotypical British xenophobe. He has a deep hatred of anything foreign, and a passionate love of anything British- which obviously includes meat pies. As such he’s even had a flavour of crisps- Steak and Al- created in his honour.

Jim Levenstein, American Pie

Much worse than the boy who cried wolf was the boy who liked pie too much. Jim’s attempts to have sex with a pie, after a talk with his father, seemed to prove that sex metaphors involving food are just a bit too complicated, and that it’s better to be frank and honest with teenagers. Even if it’s really, really awkward. At least that way you know it’s safe to eat your food.

Seeley Booth & Temperance Brennan, Bones

While Brennan may be the smart one, Booth’s more empathetic and has a better understanding of people, and she tends to follow his lead when it comes to how to act. They’ve settled into a routine which involves them spending a lot of time together- eating lunch at a local diner, and celebrating solving a case in a somewhat boozy fashion. This often comes with pie (and/or alcohol), and their colleague-cum-psychiatrist Dr Sweets even accused Booth of seducing Brennan with pie. Saucy.

Bree Van Der Kamp, Desperate Housewives

Bree was initially portrayed as the “perfect” housewife, with a Martha Stewart-esque attitude to homemaking. Her OCD seems to fuel her baking, including baskets of muffins for new neighbours, as well as plenty of pies. Her rivalry with friend and neighbour Katherine was furthered by pie quarrels- but they eventually formed a successful catering company together, and Bree even wrote a cookbook- although she didn’t take kindly to directions on how to pose with her pie:

almost everyone, Friends

Rachel liked pie, at least until the time she got confused attempting to make a traditional English dessert and instead made a meat trifle. She clearly didn’t lose her taste with sweet things however, as she and Chandler later managed to get hooked on cheesecake. All of the gang were rather spoilt by being friends with Monica- as an aspiring chef she was always cooking and baking for them. Joey was probably the one who appreciated this- including the pie baking- the most, as he was a total foodie.

Occasionally it could all go horribly wrong, like when she fed her brother Ross a pie containing kiwi, to which he was allergic. Chandler’s issue was with pumpkin pie instead- as anything related to Thanksgiving triggered traumatic memories of his parents’ announcing their divorce. Although there were some terrible pie-related incidents, over the years I think we must have seen all of the friends enjoying at least a bite or two of a pie that was to their liking.

Dale Cooper, Twin Peaks

Special Agent Dale Cooper was completely obsessed with his quest for good cherry pie and a damn good cup of coffee, as well as solving mysterious murders. Luckily the small town in which Laura Palmer was killed boasted a diner, with a fine supply of both- and a collection of attractive waitresses.

Henry Crabbe, Pie in the Sky

Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe was a long-suffering police officer who just wanted to be allowed to retire and set up his dream restaurant, but his superiors were extremely reluctant to allow that to happen. While him and his wife managed to set up the restaurant, he wasn’t allowed to enjoy it in peace and was embroiled in all sorts of drama. Poor guy just wanted to be left alone to make his steak and kidney pies.

Elizabeth, My Blueberry Nights

After a bad break-up, Elizabeth found solace in the pie shop of Jeremy, the Englishman in New York played by Jude Law, and particularly in his daily baked blueberry pie. It’s the beginning of a sweet friendship, which is maintained through sporadic postcards and phone calls when she heads off out of town in search of work, and finds herself in the process.

Mrs Lovett, Sweeney Todd

Whichever version of the story you prefer, Mrs Lovett is always portrayed as Sweeney Todd’s partner in crime, turning his murder victims into filling for the pies she sells in her shop. In the musical version she even gets to sing about having the worst pies in London, and that was before she started filling them with people-meat.

Jenna Hunterson, Waitress

Miss Penn was appalled that I was going to write about pies in pop culture without having seen Waitress, so we sat down to watch it last night. It’s an adorable, if sometimes disturbing, story- and quite possibly the most pie-heavy film ever. Jenna, a waitress, is obsessed with pies- she invents a new one daily and clearly uses this fixation to escape from the problems that she has to deal with. It also seems to be, at least in part, what draws people- especially men- to her. Well that, and her sad eyes.

Got a favourite pie fan of your own? Tell us about it in the comments!